


No One Mourns the Wicked

by sophh



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Cruciatus Curse (Harry Potter), Discord: Dumbledore's Armada, Drama, Gen, Music: A Magic Beyond All We Do Here, Young Alice Longbottom, Young Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29679921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophh/pseuds/sophh
Summary: All things truly wicked start from innocence.Bellatrix Black was once Alice Longbottom's best friend at Hogwarts.After a misunderstanding, however, the lives of two young girls will never be the same again.WINNER: Best Drama, Best Gen Fic, Maestra's Favorite, and tied for Overall Favorite!
Relationships: Bellatrix Black Lestrange & Alice Longbottom
Comments: 31
Kudos: 17
Collections: Music: A Magic Beyond All We Do Here





	No One Mourns the Wicked

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [sunflower_swan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflower_swan/pseuds/sunflower_swan) in the [MusicMagic](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MusicMagic) collection. 



> **Prompt: Wicked**
> 
> Thanks to sunflower_swan for hosting this amazing comp!
> 
> And a huge thank you to my amazing alpha/beta, AlocYrrehc! 💜

_November 1981_

Bellatrix came for Alice and her husband on a dreary November day. Alice wasn't surprised to see her—the dark-haired woman was, after all, a fervent supporter of the Dark Lord these days, while she was decidedly not. 

She and Frank put up a monumental fight, ducking and weaving through blasts of light, a macabre dance. Had it been only Bellatrix, they would have won. Outnumbered two to one, they stood no chance. 

Bellatrix seemed to take immense pleasure in binding them together with thick, coarse rope. Rodolphus Lestrange kicked their wands away with a gleeful grin, while his brother and Barty Crouch Jr. looked on, silent but no less eager. 

Panic and fear bubbled up in Alice's throat, hot and acidic, but she stuck out her chin and looked Bellatrix square in her heavily-lidded eyes. Though her hands shook slightly, her voice was calm as she addressed Bellatrix. 

"Trixie, you don't have to do this." 

She felt Frank tense up next to her at her use of the dark witch's childhood nickname. She couldn't blame him—it had been a long time since she last spoke it. 

Her one-time friend stared at her for a moment before letting out a deranged cackle. "Oh, Liss—dear, _sweet,_ little Liss—you still think that you can get through to me, don't you? You still think that you can _save_ me."

"Please, Trixie." Alice held out a hand in a reconciliatory gesture. Bellatrix stepped back with a hiss, as if she had been burned. 

"Shut up," she spat, her face twisted into a look of pure rage. "Shut _up!"_ Seconds later, her wand was at Alice's throat. "Tell me, _Alice,_ where is the Dark Lord? You're an Auror, surely you must have _some_ idea." 

"No!" Frank shouted. "She doesn't know anything!" 

"Silence him!" Bellatrix shrieked, showering Alice with spittle. Rodolphus flicked his wand at Frank, and a gag tied itself around his mouth. "Very good, darling." She turned back to Alice. "Now...where was I?" 

"You were asking me if I knew where Voldemort was." Alice was determined to keep up the façade of bravado, and was pleased when the three Death Eaters flinched at the sound of their master's name. "They say you're his most loyal follower, surely you must have some idea?" 

She was parroting Bellatrix's words right back at her, and she knew that the other woman would not take it well. If there was one thing Bellatrix Black Lestrange hated, it was being mocked.

* * *

_September 1963_

Alice stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express, a huge grin on her face. 

"Look at how beautiful the Scottish countryside is." She turned to Bellatrix, the only other occupant of the compartment. "We'll be at Hogwarts soon, can you believe it?" 

Bellatrix shook her head. She was seated a little further away from the window, her legs pulled up to her chest. A shyer smile graced her own features, but that was as good a confirmation as any that she was excited, too. 

"I can't wait," she said. 

"Think you'll be in Slytherin like the rest of your folks?" Alice wondered. 

Bellatrix nodded. "I don't mind, though. I mean, that should make things easier for me. My family's already known, so I won't have to worry about being made fun of, or not fitting in." 

Alice reached over and gave her friend's arm a squeeze. "Definitely not." 

* * *

_December 1963_

"Trixie, come out of there. You'll miss dinner," Alice said, leaning against the stall in the first floor girl's bathroom. 

The only indication that her friend had heard her was a tiny sniffle. 

"What happened, anyway?" she continued. "I looked for you after Transfiguration and someone told me you had locked yourself in the bathroom, sobbing your heart out." 

In truth, no one had told her—not directly, anyway. She had actually heard a couple of older Slytherins laughing about it, but she wasn't going to admit that to Bellatrix. 

Her friend didn't say anything for several long minutes. Alice sighed and rifled through her bag, searching for—

"Gum?" She poked a stick of it through the crack in the stall and felt it leave her hand seconds later. There were some rustling noises as Bellatrix unwrapped the piece of gum and, presumably, popped it into her mouth. Finally, she spoke, her voice as brittle as the ice currently covering the shallow edges of the Black Lake. 

"Rosier—Charles Rosier, the fifth year—told me I was ugly."

Alice didn't want to be insensitive, but "ugly" didn't seem drastic enough of an insult to warrant an entire afternoon crying in the girl's bathroom. She resisted the urge to ask if that was all, as she figured Bellatrix would elaborate further given time.

"There's more, though." 

Alice leaned in closer, straining to hear her friend's next words. 

"He called me weak, Liss. _Weak."_

The agony in Bellatrix's voice made Alice flinch. Clearly, Rosier's words had cut her to the core. It was just a pity she let them, when they were little more than rearrangements of letters. Perhaps that was easy for Alice to think, though. She wasn't stuck at the bottom of a snake pit with no means of clawing her way out. 

"I'm sorry," she said, knowing her words were futile, insufficient. "You're not weak or ugly to me." 

Bellatrix eventually composed herself enough to go to dinner, though she sat at the end of the Slytherin table apart from everyone else. Alice watched as she swung her long, dark hair in front of her face like a curtain, rendering herself nearly invisible to the rest of her House. 

* * *

_April 1964_

A note landed on Alice's desk during History of Magic and she quickly checked to make sure that Professor Binns wasn't looking at her before she unwrapped it. 

_This class is so boring. Zzz._

_Want to eat lunch in the courtyard today?_

_B_

Alice twisted around to look at Bellatrix. Her friend was sitting with the rest of her housemates, as she always did during their shared lessons. When Bellatrix caught her eye, Alice held up the note and nodded. 

The corners of Bellatrix's mouth lifted slightly in the semblance of a smile. It was a rare occurrence for her these days, Alice noted with some sadness. She had always been on the quiet side, but now, she had retreated even further into herself, a shell of the girl she had once been. 

* * *

_February 1966_

"Trixie!" Alice said, gasping for breath. "Trixie, wait!" 

With a swish of her robes, Bellatrix turned and fixed her with a glare. "Why should I? You've made it perfectly clear that you hate me, just like my housemates and everyone else in this damn school!" 

"Hate you? Why would I—"

"I _heard_ you, Alice!" Bellatrix sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and her chin wobbled slightly as she added, "Just now, you said, 'She's so annoying. I thought she knew better than to bring shame on her House like that.'"

Alice realised what Bellatrix was referring to and started to laugh, the noise echoing down the empty corridor. Several portraits frowned and shushed her, but she ignored them, intent on dispelling her friend's paranoia. 

"I wasn't talking about you, B. I was talking about Sabrina MacIntosh. She was bragging about getting a high grade on the latest Charms test, and I happen to know it's because she was cheating—"

"You can save your breath, you two-faced liar." Bellatrix turned on her heel and began to walk away. 

Alice was shocked into stillness for a moment. Finally, however, her legs started to move in the other girl's direction. 

"Trixie, talk to me." She grabbed the sleeve of her friend's robes, but Bellatrix kept on walking. "What's going on? Why are you acting like this?" 

"Let's see, maybe because my best friend thinks I'm an annoying disgrace to my House?" 

Alice let go of Bellatrix's sleeve and watched her exit the corridor, stunned. Her friend was always quick to assume the worst in people, but this was overkill even for her. Still, maybe she just needed some time to cool down. 

* * *

_March 1966_

On her way to Care of Magical Creatures, Alice waved to Bellatrix in the corridor. 

She didn't wave back. 

* * *

_April 1966_

Alice tossed a note onto Bellatrix's desk during History of Magic. Professor Binns was droning on about some Warlock Convention, and Alice knew that the other girl wasn't paying attention due to the glazed look in her eyes. 

When the note landed in front of her, however, Bellatrix merely crumpled it with one hand while continuing to stare up at the front of the classroom where their professor stood. A few minutes later, when one of her housemates whispered something to her, she shook her head and giggled. 

Alice bit her lip. Bellatrix wasn't coming around like she had hoped she might. She knew that the dark-haired girl hated being belittled and made fun of, but this whole misunderstanding was beginning to feel like a nightmare from which she would never wake up. 

* * *

_September 1966_

Alice glanced warily over at Bellatrix during the Sorting Feast. Her former friend had ignored her owls all summer, and now sat amongst a group of rough-looking Slytherins, including Charles Rosier. Apparently he didn't think that she was so "weak" now. 

Alice had heard the rumors—a man who called himself _Lord Voldemort_ was rising in power, and the Slytherins that Bellatrix was surrounded by were his followers. She could only hope that the dark-haired girl didn't believe in the same things they supposedly did. 

After Alice finished up her dinner, she found herself exiting the Great Hall behind her old friend. She hung back a few paces so that she could continue to observe her, but Bellatrix and her new comrades didn't go far. In an empty hallway near the Slytherin common room, Alice saw Bellatrix grab the arm of a young Hufflepuff girl who had gotten lost on the way to her own communal space. 

"Not so fast." Bellatrix's voice was casual, but her eyes flashed with something Alice didn't understand and didn't like. The other Slytherins jeered as the younger girl tried to twist her arm out of Bellatrix's grasp. 

"Let her go!" Alice stepped out of the shadows and locked eyes with Bellatrix. "She didn't do anything wrong." 

"Let her go!" Bellatrix mimicked. Her face twisted into a sneer. _"Petrificus Totalus!"_

The Hufflepuff fell to the ground, immobile, and Bellatrix's cronies swarmed around her while Bellatrix and Alice faced off. 

"So this is your choice, Trix—Bellatrix?" Alice gestured at the group standing behind them. "You're picking _them?"_

"I wouldn't expect you to understand." Bellatrix gave her a haughty look, and for the first time, Alice didn't see any trace of the timid girl she had once been. "It is so much better to _take_ what you want than to sit around and hope that you'll _earn_ it. I waited for people to respect me, and they only laughed in my face. I don't see anyone laughing at me now, do you?" 

Alice shook her head and slowly backed away before running off to find a professor. 

* * *

_November 1981_

"You _dare_ use my own words against me? Is that really how you want to play it, old friend?" Bella asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Well, maybe watching your husband get _Crucio'_ ed will loosen your tongue." 

"No!" Alice felt the scream rip from her throat. 

Bellatrix laughed and brandished her wand at Frank. _"Crucio!"_

Alice watched as her husband writhed on the floor. She felt as powerless as she had the day that Bellatrix had tormented the Hufflepuff. Her face hardened, however, as Frank's yells rang in her ears. Bellatrix had made her choice, and now she would make hers. She wouldn't give in to the other woman's demands, no matter the price.


End file.
